Ogre Battle 64: Person of Lordly Caliber (Nintendo 64) review

" I am one of the hardest reviewers on this site, and I believe a game must be superbly made to get that 90 and above plateu. And this game is not completely perfect, sure it has it's weaknesses but it is so strong in many categories that it is or close to my personal favorite game. Ogre Battle 64 is a game that threw me completely in love with RPG's and more specifically stories within them. I am currently out shopping for other Ogre Battle games, just because this game was so good, that the ser..."

I am one of the hardest reviewers on this site, and I believe a game must be superbly made to get that 90 and above plateu. And this game is not completely perfect, sure it has it's weaknesses but it is so strong in many categories that it is or close to my personal favorite game. Ogre Battle 64 is a game that threw me completely in love with RPG's and more specifically stories within them. I am currently out shopping for other Ogre Battle games, just because this game was so good, that the series must be too. In this review I will easily explain why.

STORY (33/30): Lets flat out say this is where the game goes above and beyond. I will not spoil any of the frequent twists, but you start off as a soldiar for the Southern Division. They send you out to do their twisted deeds. There are 100's of characters, and this game even has a chart so you can keep track of them. They also have a menu where you can hear the bacground of Palatinus and Lodis. But the story itself will have betrayel and the hardships of war. The ending is a little weak, but that may be because I always get the crappy ending. But the multiple ending possible is a great addition, and you should never turn away.

GRAPHICS (7/10): Yes, I know that this is important, but the fact that the graphics are not great is not to crucial for this game. You will not notice, unless you are looking for them, that the player graphics are not too good, and the element power also are not as flashing as they could have been. In the battles the weapons do leave a nice flash of color, and the regular spells are also pretty dazzling. The battle effects are what bring this up to a 7.

SOUND (9/10): It is not easy to have a perfect soundtrack, and this does not. But it comes pretty darn close. The music is exceptional, even though it is repetitive it will not annoy you, and it may even soothe your nerves while playing. The sound effects cost this a point, but the weapons make nice noises as they strike the enemy.

GAMEPLAY (34/35): This game is hard to pickup at first. You, Magnus, must order your troops around a set map, towards strongholds. You pick their destination, and they battle any enemy whoever passes through their route. You select to put a certain number of soldiers, characters, and monsters in each group, and there is a maximum of 5 people that can be filled. There are characters that will join along the way also. Later on in the game, you will also be able to create legion which is 2 or more parties combined for one destination. This adds an added depth to the though process. This all combines to make thinking a greater factor, and in the end it will make the player realize that this does make the game much more controllable. Also there is a meter called alignment on each character. This alignment determines what type of ending you get, and what characters join your party. The problem with this system is that you must try to complete the game with a weak party to keep a high alignment, and that is not easy.

REPLAYABILITY (10/10): First of all, when you first try to beat the game it take about 60 fun filled hours, and that in itself is along time to play a game. But you will go back different routes and to get different characters just for some more fun. All in all, this game has one of the best replay values because you can't do everything in one time through, specially with the multiple endings possible.

DIFFICULTY (5/5): To beat it the first time you must play hours upon hours, and have a strong group, but it is definitely possible if you go to the dark side. So if you want it to be beatable, just train your troops with the loose money. This is not too difficult, but if you want to get the good ending, it is no laughing matter. You will half to play it smart, and half well thought out parties and legions. This is definitely not an easy matter.

OVERALL (98/100): If you read through this you may think I gave up way too many points to the story mode, but it is what makes this game great, just like FF3. Ogre Battle 64 is a game that has great gameplay, with a story that beats out many movies. You will find yourself playing Ogre Battle in the middle of the night, trying to discover more of this magnificent plot. I have played hundreds of video games, but Ogre Battle 64 is definitely one of my favorites, only closed in by two from the champion RPG series.

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